Build-a-Bear with the Boys

The boys decided to spend some of their Christmas money at Build a Bear during a recent trip to the mall. There is no telling how much money we spent in the store with Madalyn a few years back, but the boys had a blast. Beck made Beckham Bear, a black bear with a voice box that growls. He got a rock star t-shirt and a skateboard to ride. Bristol made Erking, a koala bear that he dressed as Iron Man. I ove the picture of him putting the heart on his head to make Erking smart. He took the whole process very serioulsy. The rest of the evening I refereed time with said skateboard between Beckham Bear and Erking, wondering why in heavens name I didn't buy a second one. Sometimes my piece of mind is worth more than $8. :)

The Magic of Christmas

Christmas was great this year. The kids were all excited from their visit from Santa at the Community Center and rushed home to bake him cookies, fix chocolate milk, and set out carrots for the reindeer. They tore through the presents on Christmas morning which included new pjs, a Holiday Barbie, Monster Truck Wii game, and Littlest Pet Shop fitness center. Since it was followed by more Christmas in Burleson over the weekend - it's official. They are the most spoiled kids in history.

We had our big Swedish Christmas Eve at the Uhland Community Center. There was a great turnout even though Aunt Marie's bunch didn't come this year. As always the food was amazing and it was great to visit with everyone. Santa came to visit which is a huge highlight for the kids. Bristol was so sweet as he was the last present in the bag and when Santa asked if there was anyone else he raised his hand and said, "Me-Santa. Me-Santa." he was so afraid he was going to be left out. Cutie Pie. Santa was also kind enough to bring Beck a baseball bat. Hum. I really need to have a talk with that guy.
We also did a gift exchange that Kimberly was nice enough to lead again this year. Madalyn was very happy that Irie and Edie were there this year (did you notice Beck in the picture with them?) and of course sweet Eli was just precious. This is the one day that I look forward to all year and we enjoyed it immensely. We have the most amazing family and its so great to still be able to make each other a priority and share in the same traditions that made my childhood so much fun. Passing that on to the kids is so important.

On the last day of school, Madalyn's class performed their last Posada. This is a traditional Mexican cultural performance which enacts the journey of Mary and Joseph finding a place to stay. The Kinder through 3rd grade classes performed songs in both English and Spanish. They did an amazing job and it was so sad knowing they wouldn't be doing it next year. I took a little solace in the hope that Beck will be in the program next year and that I'd get to be there. The highlight of the performance was the second graders singing a Texas Christmas song by George Strait. Ah, the joining of cultures is a wonderful thing. :)

Christmas Cards

Hopefully, If you like us enough to read this you got a Christmas card from us. If you didn't let me know and enjoy the pics we included on there this year. Thanks to our great photographers Nicole and Jessie and especially for doing the pics so early I was able to get most of cards out super early this year. Oh, and Cody isn't in the big family pic because he was out of town. I guess we'll try to make sure to include him next year. :)

Bristol and Ella

Bristol and Ella are in a class together at Dance Unlimited and did a in-studio performance for parents just before the holidays. They are super cute and if you check out my link to Jessie's blog you can watch video. She's more computer saavy becuase try as I might I haven't been able to conquer that yet!

Cookie Decorating

We went to Lockhart a few weekends back to eat breakfast with Julie and help her with a Christmas gift for my parents. She had all kinds of stuff for the kids to do including cookie decorating which they loved. I loved her mom's gingerbread scones and lemon butter. Yum!

Athena graduates!

Our friend Athena FINALLY graduated from Texas State with her teaching degree. I say FINALLY because Athena had been taking classes at Texas State for 9 years taking a few classes each semester and then trying to speed things up when her 3 boys went to school themselves. Her youngest son is the same age as Madalyn and Brenah. We were all super proud of her and for sticking with it and not giving up. It says a lot about her character and I'm so glad to have her in our lives. She had a dinner at the Texican Cafe and then we went to Stardust to see one of her favorite bands.

School Projects Will be the Death of Me

I'm not sure if anyone remembers the damselfly from last year, but when teachers assign 'projects' that translates to homework for the parents. Madalyn had to complete a Rubric to make a mobile for a book that she had read. Aly and AJ: First Stop New York: Rock-n-Roll Mysteries was Madalyn's book of choice. Aly and AJ are a Disney band of sisters that we saw at the Hannah Montana concert in January - they sing the Potential Breakup Song and apparently solve mysteries in books in their spare time. I say that because I got away without actually reading the book, but the mobile was 25% of her Reading grade. It took almost 6 hours to complete when it was all said and done and it felt like finals all over again. We'll have to make sure that Aly and AJ don't see her Camp Rock shirt when she turns it in tomorrow. I hope that I, I mean she, makes a good grade!

Makenzie's Bday

Madalyn got to attend a birthday party at Justice. If you have a daughter older than 5 and you haven't been to Justice, count yourself lucky! They opened one at Southpark Meadows and Madalyn LOVES to go there. It really is a little girl's dream store. And now they do parties - the girls got their hair done, makeup, a shopping spree, and then got to make t-shirts which they all wore to school today. Thanks Makenzie!

Budafest 2008

Budafest is always a lot of fun, and this year was not any different. Jeff drove a trailer of little ones for Dance Unlimited in the parade. Mom and Julie got to ride in the truck with him and Jessie and I held down the fort in the back of the truck. The kids always get a kick out of it and I was impressed that Madalyn, Macey and Kayla walked the whole route to hold the DU banner in front of the 3 (yes, 3) trailers of kids. We were able to polish off the end of the day with some great festival food and then head out to more fun for the day. Good times!

Eli's Christening

Eli during the service

The whole crew

Eli with godparents, parents and the pastors
On Sunday, our newest cousin Elijah Luke Crenshaw, 'Eli' for the cool kids was christened at Gethsemane Lutheran in Austin. Just one more chapter of our family story that has taken place at the church. Eli is Chris and Sarah's son and the first grandson for my Aunt Janice. He's super sweet and I can't wait to see him again at Christmas in a few weeks. Eli wore the christening gown that many of the family members have worn (Beck was the only one of our kids that wore it) that my great-grandmother made 95 years ago for my Uncle Heartwin. Pretty darn cool.

Girl Scout Troop Christmas Party

Madalyn and Girl Scout Troop 2283 went to the Horizon Bay nursing home on December 7 to sing Christmas carols to the residents. The girls did an amazing job and the people there were really happy to see them. We went to dinner at Kobe afterwards for the girls to exchange ornaments and get their awards for the fall season. Madalyn got four Try-It patches, a Hay Ride patch for working the ride at the Fall Carnival, and of course - the Polar Bear patch. The most earned patch of them all. The girls are beautiful, maturing and growing up way too fast.

Sights and Sounds 2008

Madalyn's dance team danced in San Marcos on December 4th at their Christmas festival, Sights and Sounds. The Darlings Team did a great job, except Madalyn forgot to take her mittens off (which were bright pink and VERY noticable). Poor thing, whoops! This is my favorite of their 3 competition dances, although they're going to add one more Production dance that incorporates all 4 dance teams. They just got their costumes in and it will be fun to show everyone those. I haven't seen it on her yet, but it made Jeff cringe a bit. He he. Any way, we were fortunate enough to have Julie, Jessie and Ella there to enjoy the cold evening with us which included LOTS of cotton candy and a caramel apple for Ella. :)

Troop 2283 at the Fillin' Station
Girls by the canoes & Madalyn on the rock wall


Troop 2283 climbing trees
Funniest thing I saw at camp, Dodgeball anyone?


Madalyn's Girl Scout Troop went for their first big campout this weekend in Marble Falls at Camp Champions. We had an absolute blast and built A LOT of character along the way. The camp out was supposed to have happened back in September when Hurricane Ike came through and it was much warmer. Which leads to one of the best things that happened- the girls earned their Polar Bear Patch for camping in freezing weather which was confirmed with 28 degrees on the the gauge outside. Always trying to stay positive, it was colder than a witches boob in a steel bra this weekend. With the 20+ mile an hour winds on Saturday and then not so much the breeze as the freeze on Saturday night. The girls could have cared less, but I don't think we'll be signing up for any more camp outs in November any time soon. Oh, and the best part was that the transmission went out in the Suburban on the way up there. I don't think that I get a patch for that though, darn it. The best idea that I had was to start the Twilight book while on a camping trip-let me just tell you when you're up in the middle of the night because you're freezing cold you should NOT being reading a book about vampires. I'm not sure what the heck I was thinking.It made for some interesting dreams when I did sleep!
The girls got to play GaGa(an Israeli dodgeball game), climbed a rock wall, went on a nature hike, played tetherball, made friendship bracelets, cooked smores on a campfire and did a scavenger hunt. It was fun watching them interact with each other and even more fun hanging out with the other moms. We have a GREAT group of parents and girls. On that note-

1 Camp Champions
2 Camp Champions
3 Camp Champions
Buh-Bye

Ballet Bricks

Last year Ballet Austin sold personalized bricks outside of their new Dance Education Center as a fundraiser. Since they are one of my clients I wanted to support their efforts - and their new building - which is BEAUTIFUL. I bought one for the kids and another for my grandparents. These are the grandparents that Beck is named after. It's really nice to know that for 3 weeks every year I will get to walk by the bricks and have the reminder of them (my past) and the future they've given me.

WURSTFEST

Wurstfest - the ten day salute to sausage - in New Braunfels is one of my favorite events each year. We went for the first time when Jeff was at CITM and we'll go back every year from here on out. We met up with Kels and Sam, Aimee and Matt, Robbie and Heather, Jessie and Ella, the Kukols, and Brandy and Brenah. It was a lot of fun with all of the sausage, beer, sauerkraut, carnival rides, polka and the chicken dance of course!! The funniest thing was the wheel breaking off the stroller after almost 3 years of use and an impaired Jeff trying to push it with 3 wheels and kids still in it through the middle of the beer lines. LOL!

Last Soccer Game

Last Saturday we enjoyed Beck's final soccer game. He did a great job this year and we really like watching him play. He's a funny bunny that one. He was super proud of his medal and was sure let us know that he only needed one more to have as many as Madalyn. :)

VOTE!!

All of the kids dressed alike for November 4th to remind everyone to VOTE NOW! Don't they look precious?! Thanks Aunt Julie!

Halloween!!

On Halloween we started out with a Trick or Treat at my office - which included our IT girl Tracey who was a witch. The boys loved her outfit and Beck is totally convinced that I work with a witch. He he. We stopped by the party at the Kid Ranch and then went to pick up Madalyn from her first dance. Yes. A dance at school with boys. Thankfully she didn't dance with any of them! Or at least that's what she told us. :) We headed to Buda for a carnival at the City Park and then did some traditional trick or treating in a nearby neighborhood. The kids got more candy than they could ever eat.